CLEMSON SWEEPS THROUGH THE HEART OF DIXIE TO CLOSE REGULAR SEASON

Tigers defeat Auburn and Alabama to finish 15-4

The Tigers enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in on Sunday morning as the game with the Tide was scheduled for the afternoon, 4 pm Central. The team was able to stay in their rooms until the prescribed check-out time of 11 am, and then boarded the bus for the 3-hour drive from Auburn to Tuscaloosa.

It was sobering both before and after the game to see the devastation remaining from last year’s tornadoes. One sees bare foundations, tortured trees, buildings still showing tremendous damage a full year after the storms touched down, making it impossible to comprehend what it must have been like in the hours and days immediately afterward. You almost can’t help but think “there but for the grace of God, go I”.

The coaches’ concerns about Alabama included the fact that this is a program which has made tremendous strides the last couple of seasons and is not the Alabama of old. Four seasons ago, the Tide competed in the MCLA DII ranks because they were not competitive enough to succeed in DI. The then leadership of their team had the courage to step up to DI, rightfully predicting that is where the program belonged and hoping that their players would respond. The success of this prediction is evidenced by the fact that Alabama is on the verge of clinching their first bid to the SELC Championships pending a win over Ole Miss this week. Knowing that and acknowledging it can be two different things though, and we were concerned our players could be caught basking in our 15-4 win against Alabama in 2010. It also remained to be seen how our offense would respond to Will Patch’s injury and how well we’d be able to hop off the bus and get into game mode.

It did take us awhile to get rolling. After allowing an opening goal by Alabama, the team took a 2-1 lead at the end of 1 and held onto the 1 goal margin 5-4 at the half. The Tide was definitely improved and showed a discipline that worked for them. They were quite deliberate on offense and defensively were led by their keeper who denied a number of quality opportunities. He, in turn, was aided by a number of Tiger shots off the goal pipes.

One thing our team has developed is an ability to stay on course and persevere until things start working. That became evident in the 2^nd half as the Tiger offense came to life and the defense shut down the Tide, holding them to only one 3^rd period goal. Clemson outscored Alabama 6-1 in that half to end up on the good side of an 11-5 win. Key was possession; the Tigers won that battle decisively in the 3^rd period, holding court for probably 75% of the period in our offensive end. That in turn allowed our defense to stay fresh and in a position to harass the Tide offense throughout the 2^nd half. Alabama could not get any sustained possessions other than when they were man-up, and the Tiger man-down D denied the goal to them throughout. Instrumental in our possession game was the continued improving play at face-offs of Danny Milk and Chad Michaels who combined for 11 of 20 at the X. We also got improved wing play on the face-offs in the 2^nd half which made a huge difference as well.

Score by Quarters:

Clemson                              2              3              3              3                              11

Alabama                              1              3              1              0                                5

Individual Scoring:

Kilbourne 4 (4g), Brennan 3 (3g), Buechele 3(2g,1a), Ahern 2(1g,1a), Conlon 2 (2a), Fochtmann 1(1a), Haille, 1 (1g)

Saves:

Murray:  10 saves/ 5 goals allowed

Face Offs:

Milks:  6 of 11; Michaels:  5 of 9

Notable:

-          Senior co-captain middie Jon Kilbourn tallied a season high 4 goals. He could have had several more but banged a number off the pipes.

-          Freshman attackman JP Brennan notched a hat trick with 3 tallies.

-          Only 3 of 11 goals were assisted.

-          The defense held Alabama to 1 goal in each of two quarters and shut the Tide out in the 4^th.

-          Clemson's injury-plagued season continued as attackman Tom Reddish received a concussion on a drive around the crease. The Alabama goalie was penalized for a high hit on the play. Fortunately, Reddish has time to make a complete recovery by the time the Tigers take the field next at the SELC Championships.

Some End of Regular Season Observations:

-          Senior attackman Chris Buechele concluded the regular season with a 4 PPG (points per game) average, with total points of 72 (41 goals, 31 assists), good for 2^nd in the SELC and 3^rd nationally.

-          Senior attackman Will Patch concluded the regular season with a 3.5 PPG (points per game) average, with total points of 60 (38 goals, 22 assists), good for 4^th in the SELC and 7^th nationally.

-          Sophomore goalie Demetrius Murray ranks 1^st in the SELC and 7^th nationally in save percentage at .679%. Fellow sophomore Alex Branton ranks 5^th in the SELC and 16^th nationally in save percentage at .648%. These guys continue the tradition of excellence in cage exemplified by class of 2011 goalies Brett Becker and Ian Thompson who both finished in the top 20 nationally last year.

-          The Tiger defense allowed double digit goals in only 4 of 19 MCLA games. Their “goals allowed” average is a stellar 6.36 goals. 3 of the 4 teams we played that broke the 10 goal mark are ranked in the MCLA Top 25 (Boston College, Georgia, Virginia Tech) and the other was NC State in our season opener. Given the rash of injuries this unit has experienced, this is a truly remarkable achievement and well-deserved kudos to coaches French and Campbell and the guys who have stepped up all year. To their credit, the Tiger D held 9 opponents to 5 goals or less.

-          Offensively, the Tiger O posted double digit goals in 13 of 19 contests, scoring a high of 21 against Missouri and a low of 5 against Boston College and New Hampshire (ironically the 5 against UNH were in a 5-2 win). The Tigers racked up 215 goals for an average of 11.32 per game.

What’s ahead:

The Tigers have a light week coming up with just one official practice on Thursday night, no games this weekend, and the team relaxing off campus at their annual Mountain Weekend. We will resume our regular practice schedule next Monday in preparation for the SELC Championships in Atlanta the following weekend.

At this point the only thing we know is we will be playing at 8 pm Friday, April 27^th at one of four locations against an opponent to be determined. Virginia Tech was upset last weekend by West Virginia which throws that region into confusion. The game this weekend between VT and Kentucky and games between Richmond, West Virginia, and Tennessee will all have bearings on how that region sorts out. If VT wins, they will likely be the top seed unless West Virginia wins out and also finishes 3-1 in the region. It’s kind of amazing that with one weekend left in the season, all 5 teams in that region remain in the running for post-season play. I’m glad we settled our group early, at least as far as the Tigers are concerned. The 2^nd seed in our region will be determined by the Wake Forest – South Carolina game this weekend.

After the opening round, SELC semifinals will be played on Saturday afternoon/evening and finals on Sunday afternoon. Naturally, the Tigers have expectations of playing again on Sunday this year.

Nationally, the MCLA field will be announced I believe on Monday, May 7th. Over half the conference championships will be decided that weekend. 16 Division I teams will qualify, 11 conference champions and 5 at large teams. Obviously, the “easiest” way to advance is to win the SELC, but I think even if we fall short of that goal, our body of work all season long will keep us in the discussion as an at large team. Facts such as beating Colorado in Colorado before the Buffaloes went on to defeat BYU and Arizona State are big in our favor, as are our overall out of conference record of 6-2 and the fact that our 4 losses were all to highly-qualified teams in the MCLA Top 25. Admittedly, our loss to Georgia doesn’t help our cause but there is a likelihood we can avenge that next weekend in Atlanta.

Regardless, this team has an awful lot to be proud of. More teams fail to live up to the hype than succeed, and I think it is clear that this team has lived up to its preseason billing and expectations. That is to date and we’ve got more work to do, but these guys deserve a ton of credit for putting us in position to realize our biggest goals.  Especially when you think about………………………………….

WHAT’S WITH THIS EPIDEMIC OF INJURIES THIS YEAR?

First, let me say that I’ve never experienced a year like this one in terms of serious injuries, neither as a player nor as a coach. It seems every week we have added a player or two to the list and can’t seem to get one off the list nearly as often. For one team to experience 6 broken bones in one season is very, very unusual fortunately. Unfortunately, this season that team is Clemson University.

This year is unique in not only the number of injuries but also the fact that an inordinate amount have occurred to defensive players who are the guys usually dealing out the checks and hits.

Parents have raised questions about whether bad officiating has contributed to it and/or whether we are playing teams with a mean streak. While it is possible that in specific instances either of these two could be factors, I don’t think they apply in a broad sense. For the past couple of years, the officials have been instructed with a point of emphasis to protect player safety, particularly against high hits to the head as awareness of the extent of concussions becomes more wide spread. Given this emphasis, one would expect officials to be more protective of players and less tolerant of physical play with the result of more penalties assessed. As a result, from my personal point of view, I think the officials have over-reacted and are flagging hits that do not merit it. I am gaining a strong resentment to the phrase “targeting” as I think it applies to a very minimal number of actual collisions because it connotes an intention on the behalf of a player that I don’t think is truly often there. I’ve seen more legal hits flagged this year than illegal hits not flagged which is not where we want to be. But I digress……..

I also think if our experience were mirrored by a number of other teams, then we would have to consider officiating and team play as potential factors. But I have neither seen nor heard of many other teams who have experienced a season like we have. I’m afraid we’re kind of the poster child this year in this regard.

I do think that the size and speed of the athletes of today is part of the issue (don’t want to say “problem”). Players are simply bigger and faster than in the past and the resulting collisions are occurring with more impact and velocity than before. Should this change the game?  I personally hope not and I think we will see equipment manufacturers respond to the challenge by continually improving safety equipment. Whether they ever catch up to the pace of the game is another question.

With that said, when I played at Rutgers, shoulder pads were not mandatory, mouthpieces were basically unheard of, helmets were made of multiple panels that could easily be compressed or distorted, face masks were thinner gauge and often lacked vertical bars, yet I never saw this degree of injury. Nor were our players then all that much smaller or slower than today’s college players (particularly at the MCLA level), especially considering a lot of college lacrosse defensemen back in that day were linebackers and safeties recruited from football teams to play defense. Horace Bilderback won 6 straight national championships at the Naval Academy using that approach.

So ultimately, I think it is the luck of the draw, karma, or something similar. For some reason in this season, too many of our players have found themselves in the wrong position at the wrong time at the wrong place, thus experiencing serious injury. We have to bear in mind that not all of our injuries have been contact related. Knee injuries suffered in recent games by Dan Huettenmoser and Will Patch were both incurred during non-contact circumstances.

And it also seems that a higher percentage of the injuries we have incurred have been major compared to the minor bump or bruise or tweak one might normally expect. For some reason we have come out of each injury this year with what amounts to almost the worse possible conclusion, from Mike Schwartz’s wrist in the 2^nd game of the season to Harry Luttrell’s fractured humerus in our 17^th game.

We’ve all heard of promising college football and NFL teams that have been hurt by injuries to key personnel and who fade back into the pack as a result. I think it is a testament to this team that we haven’t allowed that to happen. For every guy who’s gone down, we’ve had somebody else step up to take the reins with our team remaining on course to achieve its goals. With every injury, the grade has gotten a bit steeper but we’re still moving upward.

Just as I’ve never experienced a season like this, I’ve never seen a team respond so well in this fashion. If you asked most folks what would happen to a team that has lost 4 long poles and a short stick defender, most people would think that defense would be toast. Not so with this bunch. We are getting thinner and thinner and are approaching the point where we’re way deep in the well, but our defense continues to play at a very high level.

What is all the more impressive to me is we did not return a starting close defenseman or our top two keepers entering this season, so we were new to start with. In that situation one can’t help but anticipate growing pains, but this group of players and coaches has not only overcome the fact we’re new but also that we’ve lost almost 50% of the players originally available to us. For them to put up numbers like a 6.36 “goals against” average and to hold 9 opponents to 5 goals or less is beyond impressive.

It should also be noted that Clemson University has upped their resources dedicated to the club athlete this year, so lack of availability of care has not been a major factor. Club Sports now has a professional trainer who covers club games, and my understanding is that they are intent on increasing that capacity to two certified trainers in the near future. In the past, the team had to find and hire a trainer themselves. Additionally, there is now an ongoing trainer based in Fike Hall available to our athletes outside of practice hours which is also new.

I would like to see Club Sports adopt baseline concussion testing for all athletes involved in contact sports. This is the best quantitative and qualitative means of gauging the extent of a concussive head injury as currently exists. The team looked into this on its own prior to the spring season and found the cost to be very reasonable. Given that we have experienced more concussions than we’d like this year, I think the team will take the pre-emptive step of putting baseline testing into practice even if the University does not require it for next season.

So I think we basically have to weather this storm and hope that it doesn’t return. We’ve had more serious injuries this single season than those incurred in my previous 6 years at Clemson or, for that matter, my 3 years at Wake and the 9 at Tennessee. For everyone involved, let’s hope it’s all in the past now and everyone can heal 100%.  One consolation we all have is the manner in which this 2012 team has responded to the challenge. It’s as if we’ve coined the definition of “step up.” I’m humbled by it.

CLEMSON SWEEPS THROUGH THE HEART OF DIXIE TO CLOSE REGULAR SEASON

Tigers defeat Auburn and Alabama to finish 15-4

The 2012 regular season started with a lengthy bus trip northeast to eastern North Carolina, so it only seems fitting we wrap it up by taking another lengthy trip in the opposite direction. Happily, the game results were the same, 2 wins on each leg.

Porter Huskey, Clemson lacrosse’s “official” driver was at the helm on both of these trips and continues to go the extra mile on our behalf. The team departed Clemson at noon on Saturday, Auburn-bound.

CLEMSON 13, AUBURN 7

It was a return to campus for Coach French as the Tigers arrived in Auburn to take on the “other” Tigers at 7 pm on Saturday.  The game started slowly with Clemson needing some time to get our legs under us and Auburn having a number of players arriving close to game time. As the 1^st quarter wound down, our Tigers started to find the range and finished up 3-1.

Clemson stretched its lead to 7-3 at half and out to 9-4 at end of 3. Auburn won the 4^th quarter 3 to 2, but it was too little too late, resulting in Clemson winning the game 13-7.

Worthy of note was the work of our face-off guys, Chad Michaels and Danny Milks. Pressed into duty by Charlie Pontiakos’ recovering from a hamstring injury, these guys have showed tremendous improvement from the week before. Charlie has been out at every practice teaching them some (but not all, I’m sure) of his tricks and techniques, and they have developed into competent and competitive face-off middies. Good to see.

The only sour note to the evening was a non-contact knee injury to senior team captain and 2^nd leading scorer Will Patch. Will went down when he planted his knee to cut midway through the 3^rd quarter. Knee injuries are never good and the verdict on his injury has yet to be rendered pending an MRI in Clemson on Wednesday.  There will be more commentary to come later on the spate of injuries afflicting the 2012 Tigers!

The team spent the rest of Saturday evening in Auburn, enjoying a group meal at Zazu’s Gastropub where a room had been set up by the Booster Club.

Scoring by Quarter:

Clemson                              3              4              4              2                              13

Auburn                                 1              2              1              3                                7

Individual Scoring:

Patch 5 (3g,2a), Brennan 3 (2g,1a), Buechele 3(2g,1a), Imperiale 3(2g,1a), Zacaroli 3(2g,1a), Kilbourn (2a), Fochtmann 1 (1g)

Saves:

Murray:  7 saves/ 4 goals allowed; Speer:  2 saves/ 3 goals allowed

Face Offs:

Milks:  9 of 15; Michaels 4 of 9

Notable:

-           8 of the Tigers’ 13 goals were assisted.

-          Junior middie Dan Imperiale had his high point game with 2 goals and an assist as well as made the Farkas eye-black Facebook page with his creative use of eye black. Should be checked out.

-          Tigers had 4 players contribute 2 goals and an assist in the game:  freshman attackman JP Brennan, senior attackman Chris Buechele, junior middie Dan Imperiale, and sophomore attackman Matt Zacaroli

-          Will Patch had team high 5 points on 3 goals and 2 assists before he was injured.

-          Tiger faceoff middies Chad Michaels and Danny Milks combined to win 13 of 24 faceoffs and gave Clemson much needed advantage of possession.

VIRGINIA TECH 11, CLEMSON 10

The Tigers didn’t have a lot of time to mope around after getting handled by Georgia because we had #11 Virginia Tech coming to Tigertown 3 days later to face our #12 squad on the football practice field. Naturally coaches are concerned with: “Bounce back, can we do it?” and “How hard did the team take the UGA spanking?” We got some early indications of our team’s resilience Thursday at practice when they talked about its being only one game, knew it was an aberration not the norm, and focused on learning from it. The guys were pretty loose that night (might have been due to anticipation of the annual “Lax Prom” that would follow practice, but it was good to see not too many people hanging their heads.) The next day, we convened the team for a short light practice to get ready for the Hokies.

For those of you who have not had the opportunity to see the Football Practice Field, let’s just say it’s very nice, with level, consistent surface quality, etc. I was surprised that the grass cover was not as good as we remembered last year against USC which at that time was like a 60 yd x 110 yd putting green. No criticism intended by any means, this time the cover was not as thick. Overall, it was a pleasure playing there, which also enabled us to video the game from the tower (we will make DVDs available shortly).

In some ways (I realize it might be heresy to some to say it), Virginia Tech is our lacrosse arch-rival. I say this because the Hokies are always in the running for the SELC Championship and have always been the top team in our division/region that stood in Clemson’s way. It’s not as if the Clemson – VT rivalry goes back a long, long way because the two teams have played each other regularly only since 2000, when the Hokies joined the SELC. Since that time, all too often it has been the Tigers who took the L, sometimes decisively so. Counting fall ball, Clemson has won 3 out of the last 4 meetings. Now nobody likes to give up their throne, so we expected nothing less than their best from Virginia Tech. All of these factors made Saturday’s game another classic.

We were more than a little worried going in, considering our ever-lengthening injury list. We added Dan Huettenmoser’s knee from the Georgia game to that esteemed group but were hoping desperately that Ryan Conlon was fully recovered. Turns out he wasn’t but that wasn’t going to stop him from playing. Our fortunes seemed to take a dip when we got word that senior co-captain Jon Kilbourn had fallen sick the night before, waking up to a fever that morning. Our first midfield unit looked to be pretty well decimated as game time approached. Mr. Kilbourn rose to the occasion, suited up, and played well, showing an awful lot of heart, as did Ryan Conlon.

Virginia Tech scored 8 seconds into the game on an illegal procedure call on the face-off and the game was on. Will Patch answered off an assist from Steve Smith and then assisted Steve Dybus to put the Tigers up 2-1. VT got an unassisted goal to knot the score at 2 all before Clemson added two more to take a 4-2 lead at the end of one.

The Hokies parked two shots in the 2^nd period to tie the game at 4 before Patch scored the Tigers’ only 2^nd period goal to give Clemson a 5-4 lead at half.  The teams traded goals throughout the 3^rd period with each squad netting 3 to open the 4^th with Clemson holding a one goal advantage. Virginia Tech scored 3 straight goals, two coming within 25 seconds of one another to push out to a 10-8 advantage. Clemson fought back on an unassisted Buechele goal to bring it to 10-9. VT scored on a transition opportunity to push the margin to 11-9 before freshman JP Brennan scored for the Tigers with a little over a minute left to make it 11-10.

VT won the next face-off but couldn’t hold onto the ball against the Tiger defensive pressure which resulted in Clemson’s gaining possession. Sophomore Alex Branton brought the ball upfield looking for an outlet against the Hokie ride when he took a low hit. Branton didn’t go down but neither did any flags despite the fact that the contact was well below the waist, defined by rule as an illegal body check. Ultimately, the Tigers were called for failure to advance the ball which then went back to the Hokies. Again VT couldn’t hold up to the Clemson pressure and turned the ball over. As time faded, the ball got upfield to Chris Buechele who fired off from just about the restraining line a long range bounce shot that beat the Hokie keeper but went just wide of the pipe. . . .  and the game was in the books.

It’s always tough to lose a close one after leading most of the way, but it’s not unusual in lacrosse to end up on the short side in the end. Virginia Tech got most of their points from transition opportunities, tallying 6 goals off the break. The Tiger D held them to only 2 goals in settled offense and gave up 2 on man down situations, but we had no answer on Saturday to the Hokie fast break which was fatal to the Tiger chances this day. 

Defensively, we took a big hit on Saturday. Sophomore Harry Luttrell was struck from behind as he was shooting and was driven into the ground. The result was a broken humerus in his right arm. Harry is casted and will find out today (Tuesday) if he needs surgery. His loss is a big one to our already depleted defensive backline. I just wish he’d been able to put the shot home and was disappointed with the officials who did not see fit to assess a more major penalty under the circumstances.

Offensively we did a great job of controlling the ball, lengthening possessions, and then capitalizing on quality opportunities. Keeping the ball on offense is a good way to keep score in your favor, and Saturday was our offense’s best work in that regard all season.

Scoring by Quarter;

Clemson                              4              1              3              2                              10

Virginia Tech                      2              2              3              4                              11

Individual Scoring:

Patch 5 (4g,1a), Buechele 3 (2g,1a), Brennan 2 (2g), Branton 1 (1a), Conlon 1 (1g), Dybus 1 (1g), Kilbourne 1 (1a), Smith 1 (1a)

Saves:

Branton (15 saves, 11 goals against)

FaceOffs:

Pontiakos (4 for 4); Milks (4 for 8); Michaels (0 for 5)

Notable:

-          Despite being under the weather, both Jon Kilbourn and Ryan Conlon posted points during the game and played well and effectively.

-          Steve Dybus scored his first goal as a Tiger on a nice hard top shelf shot.

-          Sophomore Danny Milks showed promise as a face-off middie winning 50% of his chances.

-          It is likely we will see Virginia Tech later this month in Atlanta at the SELCs. We have clinched the #1 seed for the NE Region, they are likely to be the #1 seed for the NW. This would put us on course for a reprise of the 2012 semi final game (assuming both squads advance from the quarterfinal round).

Ahead:

Immediately in front of us are games at Auburn and Alabama. Both these teams look to be solid and fully capable of giving us a battle. We need to be ready to go this weekend and to finish off the regular season on the right note. A 15-4 regular season is nothing to sneeze at.

After that, we’ll take an easy week leading into Mountain Weekend during the break between the end of the regular season and the SELC Playoffs. We’ll buckle back down on Monday the 23^rd in preparations for the SELCs. We will open at 8 pm on Friday, April 27^th, location and opponent to be determined.

Currently, Richmond, Tennessee, and Kentucky are still alive for the #2 slot in the NW Region. I suspect a lot of that will be settled this upcoming weekend.

Obviously, everyone’s more than a bit curious about where we stand for the national championships. At this point the answer is that we are still in the hunt. Obviously, the loss to UGA will not help our poll ranking or cause in general, but a one-goal loss to Virginia Tech should not have too much impact. What should help us is that Colorado defeated Brigham Young over the weekend, 9-7 and the Tigers own a victory over Colorado. Colorado is doing good work for us, beating both Arizona State and BYU.

The cleanest way to get to the MCLAs is to win the SELC and get the AQ bid.

Should that not work out, we’ll be in the hunt for an at-large bid. To better our odds, we need to win decisively these final two regular season games for starters and then advance to at least the semi-finals in the SELCs. Should we lose there, we have to lose a closer game than how the SELC Championship turns out. For example, if we lose by 1 to Va Tech in the semifinals, we’ll need for the Hokies to beat UGA or FSU or whomever in the championship game by 4, 5, or 6.

After all that, it will come down to the MCLA Selection Committee. I think we’ve got a pretty strong body of work to present to them, making it hard to keep us out, especially if we take care of business from now on. We definitely lost some margin for error when we fell to UGA, but the damage should not be terminal as long as we do what we can and should do for the remaining 2 regular season games.

GEORGIA 14, CLEMSON 6

The Tigers hosted UGA on the club field last Wednesday, 5 days after our trip to Columbia and latest win over USC. Monday’s practice was lackluster, but expectations were that we would pick it up on Tuesday to be ready for the Bulldogs. Mother Nature had different ideas, and practice was rained out. It was inconvenient but not decisive in terms to how the game played out.

Long and short of it, Georgia came to play and wanted this one a lot more than we did. We got outplayed in just about every facet of the game from start to finish. UGA got out early, led 4-1 at end of first, 8-2 at the half. We did regroup a bit at half time, however we were still back on our heels, and the best we could do was to tighten up the final margin, getting outscored 6-4 in the second half.

As we told the players, when  we have a 21 game schedule, there’s bound to be a game like this where nothing seems to go right, no bounces go your way, and nothing you do seems to work. Last Wednesday night was that night for the 2012 Clemson lacrosse team. Thankfully, it all came to a head in this one game and was not something we had to contend with over a number of games. It still hurt. It was one of those games from which the only benefit is to learn!

We know this one was an anomaly, kind of a “perfect storm” of a game. On this night, the Bulldogs, who dominated ground balls and shots, took it to the Tigers in every aspect of the game. We did show some life towards the end of the 3^rd and going into the 4^th by rotating to our “Bandit” set where we load up our offense with 4 or 5 or 6 attackmen. Unfortunately, it was not enough because we were just in a hole too deep to be able to make a serious run at it.

I have to admit that I was a bit surprised that Georgia, with a 12-6 lead and less than two minutes left kept going to the cage and added two late scores to finish the game at 14-6. Those are the kind of goals that a team doesn’t tend to forget. The Tigers are hoping for another chance at the ‘Dogs later this month at the SELC Championships. UGA is a good, solid team with good athletes who can obviously put the ball in the cage and play good defense. Suffice it to say, they haven’t seen everything that the Tigers can bring to the table.

Score by Quarter:

Clemson                              1              1              2              2                               6

Georgia                               4              4              4              2                              14

Individual Scoring:

Patch (3g), Ahern (2g), Brennan (1g,1a), Buechele (2a)

Saves:

Branton:  8 saves, 7 goals allowed; Murray:  8 saves, 7 goals allowed

Face Offs:

Maher 7 of 17; Milks 1 of 3

Notable:

-          First game all season that midfielders did not score any points, no goals, no assists.

-          First game all season senior that attackman Chris Buechele did not score a goal.

-          UGA dominated possession, including face-offs, first time Clemson has lost the face-off battle all season.

-          Sophomore goalies Alex Branton and Demetrius Murray split time in goal. Branton got the start but came out early in 2^nd with stick problems. Murray played balance of the half and well into the 2^nd half before Branton returned. Both had pretty equal stats and neither could be faulted for many of the UGA goals as the Georgia shooters were often right on the doorstep when they pulled the trigger.

-          Senior middie Dan Huettenmoser tweaked a knee during the game. Initial diagnosis indicates a meniscus issue and the hope is he will return for the SELC Championships.

-          Junior middie Ryan Conlon did not play against Georgia due to bronchitis and ear infection.

-          Freshman middie Charlie Pontiakos was also inactive due to hamstring he aggravated in the USC victory.

PHEW! 

Clemson, SC:  I figured I needed to get this recap out ASAP after the game of last Friday (3/30/12), which was yet another classic Clemson-USC hook-up! Fortunately, we prevailed on a diving goal by senior midfielder Dan Huettenmoser with 14 seconds left in the game to give the Tigers a 9-8 win.

A lot of one goal games are nip and tuck the whole way from start to finish. Last years’ OT win over the Gamecocks was that kind of game, as neither team led at any point by more than 1. The 2012 edition was a horse of a different color. After a tight 1^st quarter that ended knotted at 1 all, Clemson scored twice in the 2^nd to head into half time up by a skinny 3-2 margin at halftime.

The 3^rd quarter was all orange and purple as the Tigers dominated possession and posted 4 goals while shutting out the Gamecocks en route to a 7-2 margin at the end of 3.  Just as the sun had shined on the Tigers in the 3^rd , it began to favor the ‘Cocks as the 4^th period unrolled. USC punched in a couple of goals to narrow the Tiger lead to 7-4 before sophomore defenseman Harry Luttrell assisted Will Patch about 5 minutes into the 4^th  to get the lead back to 4 at 8-4.  

At that point everything started to go the Gamecocks’ way: possessions, face-offs, bounces, you name it. They converted their opportunities to knot the score at 8 with a little over 2 minutes remaining and had all the momentum flowing their way. The crowd had swelled and became more and more raucous, their bench was fired up, and the Tigers were in hold-back-the-tide mode, which is always tough to do in an arch-rival game, especially on the road.

Fortunately, the Tigers were able to gain possession and opted to play for the final opportunity. The way things were going, the last thing we wanted to do was give the ball back to the Gamecocks. We figured the worst we could do was go into OT. We set up our offense in an invert set, putting our middies behind the goal against the USC short stick defenders, hoping that this would put their players in an uncomfortable position with which they were not accustomed; the intent was also to remove their middies from the transition game should we turn the ball over.

 The Tigers’ offense got off a couple of decent shots that were off the mark but were able to sustain possession. As the clock ticked down, 18, 17 ,16 15,… middie Dan Huettenmoser found himself with the ball just behind goal line extended on the bench side of the goal. Huettenmoser dove across the GLE and bounced a low shot at the cage. Frankly, I couldn’t see the ball go in the cage so I can’t tell you whether Dan five-holed the keeper or if the shot went in clean or was deflected. I can say I could see Tiger sticks lifted in jubilation but my eyes were on the official running down GLE to the goal. It wasn’t until his hands went up in the “touchdown” position that I was ready to believe we had pulled off another classic win over USC. 

We still had 14 seconds left which in lacrosse can be an eternity. For the last face-off, out limped freshman Charlie Pontiakos, who had aggravated a hamstring injury early in the 3^rd  and had been on the sideline icing the leg during USC’s rally. Though Charlie couldn’t run worth a lick, he could still work his magic at the “X” and that he did, tying up the ball for precious seconds until Ryan Conlon gained possession of the ball and the win for Clemson as the buzzer sounded.

To me, one of the magical aspects of lacrosse is the ability of teams to go on streaks, to rack up a series of points in a short time, and to make a runaway into a neck and neck race to the finish. We’ve been on both sides of a rally but Friday night in Columbia was a particularly tough one as the ‘Cocks fought their way back into it, spurred on by a passionate home crowd. I have to admit that the sudden silence which followed Huettenmoser’s goal was very, very sweet. I do know how much it hurts to come so close but not get over the hump, and I give a ton of credit to the South Carolina players and coaches for never saying die. They gave us everything we could handle when a lot of teams would have cashed it in. Our hats are off to them.

Our players can take an awful lot of pride in the fact that this year’s seniors will be the second class in a row that can say they have never lost to Carolina. This was our 5^th  spring game win in a row and 10^th  overall over the ‘Cocks counting fall games. In fact, the only folks attached to the program these days who have tasted defeat at the hands of USC are myself and assistant coach Andy Campbell.

Scoring by Quarter:

Clemson      1              2              4              2              9

South Carolina       

                    1              1              0              6              8

Individual Scoring: 

Patch (3g, 1a), Buechele (2g, 2a), Ahern (2g, 1a), Brennan (1a), Fochtmann (1g), Huettenmoser (1g), Kilbourn (1a), Luttrell (1a)

 Saves:

Branton:  10 saves, 8 goals against / .556 save percentage

Face-Offs:

Pontiakos:  10 of 13

Conlon:  1 of 4

 Notables:

      Sophomore Harry Luttrell notched an assist on a feed to Will Patch for Clemson’s 8^th goal.

      Will Patch and Chris Buechele continue to log multi-point games. TJ Ahern joined the party, racking up 3 points on 2 goals and an assist.

      7 of Clemson’s  9 goals were assisted. Perhaps ironically, Huettenmoser’s game winner was one of the two unassisted goals. No fear, we’ll take 'em however we can get them.

      Sophomore goalie Alex Branton had a marvelous session in the 4^th  period, making 2 outstanding saves in succession, but the Tigers couldn’t control the rebound and the Gamecocks finally scored on their 2^nd  put back attempt. The end result in no way cheapened the quality of the saves beforehand.

      The team car pooled to the game and I can’t say this worked to our advantage. We had one car break down and ultimately arrive after the game had started and a number of players were caught in a back-up due to an accident just before getting to Columbia. They made it in time for game but were definitely not in game-ready state of mind when the whistle blew. For big games like this, I think we’ll insist on motor coach transportation in the future.

      With the win over USC, Clemson has won the NorthEast Regional Championship and clinched a number 1 seed in the 2012 SELC Championships. The Tigers will open play Friday, April 27th in the quarterfinal round against the #2 seed from the NorthWest Region which has yet to be determined.  This marks the second consecutive year that Clemson has finished regional play undefeated and taken a #1 seed into the SELC Championships.   CONGRATULATIONS to the TIGERS!

The night before the big clash with the Gamecocks, the Tigers welcomed the Tigers of the University of Missouri to campus. It’s tough to say whether this scheduling worked to our advantage or not. While it did get us back into game mode after our spring break, it’s undeniable that we had some guys wearing down late in the USC game which probably contributed to USC’s 4^th  quarter rally.

The Clemson Tiger offense had its most potent outing against Mizzou, racking up 21 points. It didn’t take the Tigers long to assert themselves on the offensive end as Clemson ran out to an 8-3 advantage at the end of the first period. Clemson continued on that theme in the 2^nd, opening up to an 11-4 lead at half and then expanding on it in the 3^rd , tallying 6 goals while shutting out Missouri for a 17-4 lead at the  end of 3. The Tiger “guns” weren’t silent in the 4^th  either as Clemson outscored Missouri 4-2 in the final stanza to finish the game up 21-6.

Scoring by Quarter:

Clemson:     8              3              6              4              21

Missouri:     3              1              0              2                6

Individual Scoring:

Patch (5g,2a), Buechele (3g,1a), Ahern (1g,2a), Kilbourn (2g,1a), Conlon (1g,1a), Fochtmann (2g), Murphy (2g), Brennan (1a), Haile (1g), Huettenmoser (1a), Imperiale (1g), Johnson (1a), Long (1g), Zacaroli (1g)

Saves:

Murray:  5 saves. 4 goals allowed (.556 save %); Speer  4 saves, 2 goals allowed (.667 save %), Upton 2 saves, 0 goals allowed (1.00 save %)

Face Offs:

Pontiakos:  7 of 13; Maher:  2 for 6; Milks 1 for 2;

Notable:

       21 is the score with highest goals scored for Tigers in 2012.

      TJ Ahern had 2^nd 3 point game in succession, scoring 1 goal and 2 assists vs Missouri along with 2 goals and 1 assist vs USC

      Patch’s 5 goals are season high for the senior attackman

      10 assisted goals out of total 21 are probably the lowest percentage of assisted goals in any game this year.

And ahead:

No rest for the Tigers in the near future. We welcome #23 Georgia to campus Wednesday night and then host lacrosse arch-rival Virginia Tech to town on Saturday at 1 pm. VT is currently ranked 8^th  in the country but had a tough weekend up in Buffalo this weekend. The Hokies dropped game to SUNY Buffalo, 8-6 (we know how that feels) while defeating New Hampshire, 8-6. Earlier last week VT defeated Missouri 12-4. The game of playing comparative scores is a dangerous one though. Both teams beat USC by 1, but the Hokies dominated FSU by a 12 goal margin compared to our 7 point spread. All that tells me is this game is a toss-up but will be a fierce battle for SELC supremacy. The Clemson – Va Tech game will be played on the football practice field, site of last season’s classic double OT victory over USC. Thanks to Rick and Matt Hogue for helping to make that field available to us.

While VT gets the immediate attention, we need to focus on Georgia. UGA gave us a tough game last year and was the only team to defeat the Tigers during fall ball. They are likely the cream of the crop of the SELC South this season, and it is not unlikely that we will see them again later in April. They played VT very tough, losing a low scoring 4-3 battle a week or so ago. Until Wednesday night about 9:30 pm we need to thinking only of the Bulldogs.